Preventing Infant Food Allergies:
Reducing The Odds

Although to date there is no actual way of preventing infant food allergies, there is some methods which may reduce possible future complications with your child.

How To Reduce Future Complications

• The mother must maintain a healthy diet the entire 9 months of the pregnancy. Avoid eating prolonged selections from the same food groups. Vary your diet as much as possible.

• When the subject of breastfeeding vs formula arises, try to choose feeding your baby at least the first 4-6 months from breast milk

• Avoid all well-known allergy troublemakers as long as possible. This includes eggs, wheat products, citrus fruits, chocolate, peanuts, fish or shellfish, dairy or tree nuts. Also artificial dyes, preservatives, food additives and chemicals can create complications.

  Occasionally though, a new program is being tried to slowly and infrequently allow some of the major allergens into the mother's diet so the baby can become adjusted to these food compounds also. This program needs to be done under your doctor's supervision though. Make sure you cover this with your doctor and set up guidelines about how much and how often these products may be added into your diet.

• Although current research is still unsure about the best possible strategy for preventing infant food allergies, most agree that introducing solid foods should start no earlier than 6 months of age. At this time, introduce only 1 food every 4-5 days and observe your child for any adverse reactions. If you notice trouble- call your doctor.

Schedule For Introduction Of Solid Foods

Remember though, start with one food only every 4-5 days, staying preferably with organic selections. Also, when serving anything from a baby food jar, peas and carrots or anything similar is not one food. It must be either the peas or the carrots. If there is any kind of reaction, you have no way of knowing if the reaction was due to which vegetable.

• 7 months: start pureed vegetables and rice
• 8 months: increase the rice by adding rice cereals
• 9 months: add very small quantities of finely chopped or pureed meats
• 10 months: introduce pureed or finely chopped fruits (no citrus fruits)
• 12 months: introduce grains, corn, beans and citrus fruits

By slowly integrating the common allergens into your baby's diet, the child's digestive system has a greater chance to mature and handle the processing of certain varieties of foods, thus effectively preventing infant food allergies.

Recent research has shown that many parents unwittingly start their newborns on solid food much earlier than is desired by medical standards.

Many feel if the baby gets fussy, give him/her a little bit of juice from the bottle. Or it is not unusual that they will offer some very runny cereal from a bottle as early as 2-3 months.

Juice may seem like it is OK but it is still considered a solid food - it is not breast milk or formula.

Please do not use sweetened juices as a treat for a fussy child. Other than you are already giving your baby too many calories per day to start them off in life, you are also teaching your newborn to want sweets any time they feel moody or fussy.

Other possible solutions for a fussy baby is to:

• take you and the baby for a walk in the fresh air
• take you and the baby for a short car ride. Usually the motion and the movement of the car will calm a small baby.
• give the baby 2 teaspoons of unsweetened chamomile tea
• put on some soothing music and slow dance with your baby on the middle of the floor
• gently massage your baby's back, hands, feet and stomach

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